At the party's nomination meeting Saturday, filmmaker Heather K. Dahlstrom will become the Green Party candidate in Nickel Belt.

“I am honoured to represent our riding association as the Ontario Liberal Party candidate in Sudbury in this election,” Olivier said in a news release Thursday after the meeting. “I am excited for the opportunity to be the voice for this riding at Queen’s Park, and to collaborate with Kathleen Wynne on a plan to ensure our community continues to reach for, and achieve, its full potential.”

Olivier succeeds MPP Rick Bartolucci, who is retiring after 19 years.

“I wish to congratulate Andrew on this wonderful achievement,” Bartolucci said in the release. “I am pleased and proud to have such a passionate, confident, ambitious and capable young professional ready to serve the wonderful constituents of this riding.”

NDP would spend on water infrastructure

Hitting on a popular theme in Greater Sudbury, NDP candidate Joe Cimino says an Andrea Horwath government would reverse course when it comes to helping cities pay for critical repairs to their water and sewer systems.

“When the provincial Liberal government decided water users must pay the full cost of the water system, they didn’t consider the existing state of the pipes in the ground, and the skyrocketing failure rate,” Cimino says in a letter to Northern Life. “Even for a city committed to maintaining our water system properly, it is difficult to set aside enough money each year to handle almost 1,000 kilometres of water main and another 800 kilometres in sewers.”

Waterman failures are increasingly common in Sudbury, and municipal staff say we may set a record this year for watermain breaks. The Kingsway, a major traffic artery in the city, is often affected by breaks, closing off parts or all of the roadway for extended periods.

“While the Liberal government refuses to take the lead, New Democrats are reiterating our commitment to infrastructure investments and to uploading services so our cities can continue to grow,” Cimino said.

Peroni backs plan to balance the books

Sudbury Progressive Conservative candidate Paula Peroni is backing her party's plan to eliminate the provincial debt within two years.

Tory Leader Tim Hudak promoted the plan Friday, which will he said would also “boost economic confidence and bring well-paying jobs back to Ontario.

“Our government is growing at a rate that we can’t afford to keep up with,” Peroni said in a release. “We’re spending more than ever with money we don’t have, and piling up enormous debt.

“The more the government spends, the longer we will stay in this economic rut and the more jobs we will lose.”

The Ontario PCs Million Jobs Plan will balance the budget by 2016, by taking decisive action, including: government-wide wage freeze; shrinking the size of cabinet from 27 to 16 ministers; and, reducing the number of government employees by 100,000.

Nickel Belt Greens to holdnomination meeting Saturday

While all the traditional parties in Nickel Belt and Sudbury have candidates in place, there's still one more name to be filled before election day June 12.

On Saturday, filmmaker Heather K. Dahlstrom will become the Green Party candidate in Nickel Belt. While unopposed, the party has a history of not appointing candidates. Instead, there will be a vote, with Dahlstrom running against a ballot marked “none of the above,” as is party tradition when there's only one candidate.

Dahlstrom was born and raised in Thunder Bay, and is a graduate of the Confederation College Film Production Program. For the past 15 years, she has been working primarily in film, TV and digital media in Canada, and was most recently a 2014 Canadian Screen Award Best Motion Picture Nominee for the feature film "Empire of Dirt."

“She wants very much to preserve the beauty and tranquility of Northern Ontario for future generations,” her Green Party bio reads. “A proponent for change, Heather finds Elizabeth May to be one of the most influential people in Canadian politics, and is excited to help in any way to keep Canada clean, healthy and full of promise.”

Candidates for the June 12 provincial election:

Sudbury

Green Party: Casey Lalonde, 24, a Laurentian University student whose goal is to “increase the percentage of votes for the Green Party.” Website: www.greenpartysudbury.ca/

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